Save Tanna Valley
This is a call to action to help save Tanna valley and Tanna Elementary school.
We are in need of your assistance, we face an enormous environmental issue in Tanna Village of Shizuoka Japan. There is a proposed plan to install a Mega solar array that will consist of 10,000,000 solar panels and take up 65 hectares (160.618 acres) on the hillside here in the beautiful Tanna valley. That is the equivalent of 23 and a half baseball stadiums. We all view solar energy in a positive way and feel that it is a wonderful alternative to nuclear energy, however, in order to instal the array they intend to completely deforest an entire mountain, leading to an increased danger of landslide in an area that has already been deemed at risk by the Shizuoka prefecture. The proposed site is also directly uphill from Tanna elementary school, a key school focusing on agricultural education with the entire valley as its classrooms.
Other potential environmental issues include, loss of habitat for wildlife, upsetting the water table in this ecosystem, pollutants, and herbicidal runoff down into the valley below.
The valley itself is the home to many rice fields, Tanna dairy, Oratche recreational facility, many homes, as well as the school. To top it all off the energy generated by the array will not be utilized in the local area at all, but will be transferred to larger cities.
Many prefectures in Japan have already passed laws banning mega arrays such as this one, however the local government in Shizuoka dragged its feet in passing such a law and as a result Blue Capitol Managment sneaked in its proposal for this array. The public was not notified until it was too late. The whole process has been secretive and convoluted, and not open to the public as one would expect in a democracy.
We humbly ask for your signature on this petition in order to help us save this beautiful and eclectic place that we all call home.